Building-wall structure



May 5, 1925. 1,536,729

W. D. RICHARDSON BUILDING WALL STRUCTURE FilkfAfii-il 17, 1920 i iili i li ATTORNEY.

i of uniform size.

Patented May 5, 1925.

a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

WILLARD DLBICHABDSON,.OF (JOLUMB'US, OHIO.

"BUILDING-WALL s'rnucrunn Application filed April 17, 1920. SeriaIN'o. 374,582.

To all whom it may concern:

Be ltrlfllOWI) that I, WILLARn D. RICH- ARDSON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Columbus, in .the coun.

ty of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Building-lVall Structures, of which the following is. a specification.

My invention relates to building wall structure. It has for its ob eot the construction of a substantially fire-proof, reen-v forced, monolithic concrete wall with an artistic brick facing, without the employment of skilled labor, either carpenter or brickelayer. a

. Cement-concrete walls are objectionable for several reasons. In the first place, the

normal method, of constructing these walls requires lumber and the labor of carpenters to make the forms for holding the tresh concrete; or it requires expensive iron forms Secondly, experience has shown that the cementconcrete wall is very absorptive of moistureand remains wet for a long time after rains unless given a special coatingof some so -called impervious wash, these washes being ordinarlly anything but impervious. Furthermore the cement-concrete cannot be made artistically beautiful and mayat any time develop uglycracks; or it may havebeen of poor naterialor. 1nferior mixture with the result that it will disintegrate after repeatedexposure to wet and freezing weather.

A On the other hand. the objection to the brick wall or to the brick-veneer wall has been the high cost of the facing bricks together withthehigh wages of briclclayers and in many localities, the difficulty of securing brick-layers.

invention aims to proivide a novel form of. wallthat combines the. advantages, not both the brick and the cement-concrete :wall with practically none of the disadvantagescf either. I have provided awall of such structure and a method and apparatus ofsuchlnatune that the wall maybe constructedby an amateur and with all the ad vantages ,of a "wall built by skilled labor.

Furthermore, the construction is suchthat a Wall having a finished brick appearance c'anbe produced in practically any locality at a minimum cost inwspite of thexhigh shipping rates 1- that may prevail, for in stance, in relativelylren ote localities. I acco pl e t rr sult by. t P

tion.

vision of burnt-clay, veneer or facing brick or tile of considerably less width than the ordinary brick, thus reducingthe cost of transportation of the elements which are nee-- essary to produce a wall with a finished fac-i 111g. forms which are firstbuilt into hollow wall I utilize these facing-bricks or tiles as structure held together by metallic elements and especially prepared cement. I fill in thisv hollow wall structure with cementconcrete.

An important phase of my invention arises from the fact that I provide an especially prepared mortar which is of such consistency that it may be preformed to fit the abutting edges of thefacing tiles and to properly space them apart. ThenI proide an apparatus for effecting this proshown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a detail view of one of the wire bindersthat I utilize in constructing the wall;

. Figure 5 is a perspective view of the mortar-forming device shown partially in sec- Figure 6 is a perspective view of the mortar-measuring pallet that is used in connection with themortar-forming device for receiving and applying the proper lengths of mortar strips.

In the drawings, it will be seen that each of the'facing tiles lie of rectangular form and is provided with three holes 2 cored therein to form the slots into which the wire binders or wall ties 3 are placed. Eachtacingvtile is also provided with ridgesd on both ends for extending into and forming a tight joint with the mortar applied between the ends of the adjacent tiles. Furthermore, the inner facing of each tile is provided with dovetailed grooves 5 into which the cement-concrete is adapted to run to assist in binding the br ck to the cement-concrete wall.

perspective view of my novel The outer surfaces of these tiles 1- may be smooth or rough, depending upon the wall facing desired and may be of any desired color and texture. They are preferably of the same dimensions as the standard facing bricks, usually 2 x8 inches, although they may be of different dimensions if desired. However, it is very important that they be of only about one-fourth of the width and the weight of the standard building brick, since this will make it possible to produce these tiles of high-grade clay and ship them long distances for an extremely low cost. The tiles applied to the inner surfaces of the wall, may be made of any local clay and may have their outer surfaces scratched or grooved for holding plaster more effectively.

After many experiments, I have found that the best composition of mortar to make a tight joint that will not let the cementconcrete through it and that will have the requisite plasticity and both the power to form a long perfect column on the pallet and sufficient stickiness to hold its form and position on the pallet when such pallet is turned on edge, is a mixture of equal parts of Portland cement and hydrated lime to which is added five to ten per cent of finely pulverized clay, the percentage of clay depending upon the plasticity of the clay available. Ifdesired, sand may be added to the mixture to the extent that the body does not become too weak to form a solid continuous bar of the requisite form and length. The mortar so prepared is to be dumped into the hopper of the auger machine shown in Figure 5. This auger machine shown in Figure 5 is of relatively simple type and comprises a chamber upon which is mounted a hopper 7 and which is provided with an outlet or die 8 of rectangular form. This die 8 is produced by means of a removable facing plate or mouthpiece 9. The chamber 6 is mounted upon a base 10 and this base carries a screw conveyer 11 extending into the chamber 6 and having av reduced extension 12 extending rearwardly through bearings 13 and 14 mounted upon the base 10. The extension v12 carries a crank 15 and a thrust collar 16. This small hand-power auger machine is mounted on a table that is easily moved along the wall or on a scaffold.

Adapted to be used in conjunction with this auger machine, is a pallet 17 having a hand-hold 18. The pallet is desirably about the length of a tile.

In operation, two spaced rowsof tiles are laid in position with the binding wires 3 so positioned that they will extend downwardly into the openings 2. In the laying of this first row, the legs of the binding wires are desirably shorter than those used with the rows above. The pallet 17 is placed adjacent the auger machine, which has been filled with the specially prepared mortar, and a bar of mortar of a length equal or substantially equal to the height of a tile is forced out upon the pallet. The mortar is of such consistency that it will adhere to the pallet until wiped off onto the edge of a tile. The pallet is then used to wipe off the portion that has issued from the auger machine upon the vertical edge of the tile. In these vertical joints, the mortar column, which is usually about two and one-fourth inches long, may be placed by hand or by means of a shorter pallet up against the end of the last tile. laid.

As soon as these first two rows of tile are in position and held together by the binding wire, the upper tiles may be successively applied. In securing the mortar for the horizontal mortar joint, the pallet shown in Figure 6 is desirably utilized and the proper length of mortar may be severed. in various ways. The preferable way is to provide a hand tool with a cutting wire thereon. When the proper length of mortar has been severed, the operator picks up the pallet by means of the hand-hold 18, turning it with the opposite edge of the pallet upwardly and wipes the pallet down the inner surface of the tile wall, leaving the bar of mortar on top of the tile along its inner edge. Thus, he has provided a strip of mortar of rectangular cross-section and which may be made of such size as to produce a recessed joint on the exterior of the wall. The bar of mortar must be placed in position before the wire binders so that there will be room for the pallet when wiping off the mortar. The pallet need not be more than one and one-half inches wide for standard tiles. The wires are forced down to the tile underneath, passing through the mortar. After this, a tile is picked up and put in position, being tapped lightly with a hammer to make the finished joint about one-half inch thick. In like manner, a tile is also laid opposite this on the inner wall. Then two of the wall ties are picked up and the ends forced down through the slotted holes as far as they will go, that is, until the horizontal portion of the ties rests on the. tile. The vertical. legs of the ties are desirably long enough to extend through the tile just laid and a little more than half way through the tiles in the course below.

I/Vhen the wall of the tile has been laid up scaffold high, or as high as the operator can conveniently work, the slush cement-concrete is prepared and poured in between the wall in the best manner, the tile walls forming a mold for the concrete. When this mold has been filled, the scaffold may be raised and the laying of the tile wall proceeded with as before. In some cases, it

'may be found best to lay the Wall higher or even to the top before pouring in the concrete.

It is apparent that all of the work of con,- structing such a wall can be performed by unskilled labor and that the man living out in the country or on the frontier can buy the material and practically build his own wall of the most durable, sanitary and artistic construction. The cost of materials is such thatthey may all be carried in stock by dealers in builders supplies everywhere. Obviously, all of the advantages of a concrete wall are combined with the advantages of a brick wall having an impervious facing-brick exterior and a hollow-brick interior scored or grooved for plaster. The artistic finished appearance of a brick wall is produced and thisis coupled with the simplicity and low cost of a cement-concrete structure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of laying bricks in a wall which comprises providing a mortar of preformed cross-section and of such composition that it will hold any form given it, receiving such mortar upon a pallet, severing a portion of said column, and applying it to a brick to form a mortar joint by n ans of said pallet.

2. A wall structure comprising parallel walls of brick, each brick having slots parallel with the face, grooves extending across the side opposite the face and ridges extending across the end thereof, and means for connecting the parallel courses of brick and securing the bricks in one course in vertical alignment with the bricks of the course below.

3. A wall structure comprising parallel courses of. brick, vertical slots in said bricks,

rods for connecting and spacing said parallel courses of brick and securlng the re--' spective courses in vertical alignment, one end of each rod extending down through the registering slots of two courses of brick and the opposite end extending down through the registering slots of two corresponding and parallel courses of brick.

4; The method of constructing a wall which consists in pre forming strips of mortar of predetermined shape, receiving the said mortar strip upon a specially formed pallet and then transferring said strip from the pallet to the top of a brick to thereby form the mortar joint of such brick without further Working the mortar.

5. The method of layingbricks in a wall which consists in preforming a column of mortar, receiving such mortar upon a pallet, severing a portion of said column, and applying it to a brick to form a mortar joint by means of said pallet.

6. A wall structure comprising parallel and successive courses of brick, vertical slots ineachof said bricks, two of said slots registering with the slots of the two bricks of the course above and with the slots of two bricks of the course below, and means extending through said slots for connecting and spacing the corresponding parallel courses of brick.

7 A wall structure comprising parallel and successive courses of brick, slots extending through each ofsaid bricks and U- shaped bars extending downwardly through said slots of corresponding parallelcourses of brick and into the slots formed by the bricks of the course below.

In testimony whereof I hereby aflix my signature.

WILLARD D. RICHARDSON. 

